Sunday, November 30, 2008

Sunday Notes

If (or as some believe, when) the Senators don't make the playoffs this year, they might look at their record against the Islanders and realize that's where those important points slipped away.

Coming into this campaign, the Senators had only lost 11 times in their whole existence to the Islanders but now they've lost their last three and 4 out of 5 going back to last season.

And this is an Islander team currently without Rick DiPietro and Mike Comrie. Something is still not right here.

I'm not sure that there is any sort of scoring slump to break out of. Outside of the Big 3, nobody on this team seems capable of pitching in consistently.

And you can't blame the loss on the Big 3 here either. They did their part. They were responsible for both of the Senators goals. But who's helping them out?

Antoine Vermette is a lost cause and now possibly untradeable. Mike Fisher is playing great and is probably the hardest working guy out there. But he's not a natural goal-scorer. He contributes in other ways although Bryan Murray has put him in a position (second-line centre) to fail even if he plays his best.

Then you go to....

Wait. There's no one else on this team who is even expected to reach 40 to 50 points.

Maybe that's the problem.

***

I am already sick of the Brian Burke story. I have nothing against the guy but today's Sun has two articles on the guy who (as Al Strachan likes to point out) "invented hockey". That matches the amount of stories they have on the Ottawa Senators.

Hey, in a town that allows its own captain to be booed by Leaf fans in their own rink, I guess that's just the way she goes.

***

The latest media tirade against Jason Spezzacame from Bobby Clarke. He complained that players don't fear playing against Spezza because he can only make you look bad by "making plays" but won't lay a hand on anyone.

This is the same guy who said about his head coach Roger Neilson, who was stricken with cancer in 2000:

"The Neilson situation - Roger got cancer - that wasn't our fault. We didn't tell him to go get cancer. It's too bad that he did. We feel sorry for him, but then he went goofy on us."

How is anyone supposed to take him seriously after that?

And where is Bryan Murray? This guy should be dropping a few F-Bombs on Clarke to the media in defense of his star player.

Could you imagine guys like Pat Quinn, Glen Sather or Brian Burke allowing Clarke to get away unscathed after having their star players ripped like that?

Murray loves to be blunt with the media only when he's ripping his own team. He doesn't seem prepared to defend them in the same manner.

And that's pretty soft, don't you think?

***

Brian Lee still doesn't look right out there. And I don't think he'd fare too well in a moustache growing competition......... Contrary to public opinion, Nick Foligno is having a bad year. He's got great character but is he really an NHL forward on a majority of other NHL rosters? I doubt it. He needs more playing time and that can only come in the AHL. But what other options do the Senators have right now?..... Mike Fisher really impressed me the last two games with his forechecking and gutsy effort. Whatever rumours are out there about trading this guy should go away. Fast.......... A lot of people are upset about another Senator game not being shown on Hockey Night In Canada but can you blame them? The games this year are as boring as any New Jersey or Columbus sludge-fest....... Islander rookie Josh Bailey seemed afraid to make eye contact with Jarkko Ruutu after getting a stick in the back as the two were coming off the ice at the same time. His expression was priceless, as if to say "Who the hell is this guy and why is he smiling at me like that?"

12 comments:

I would tend to disagree, I actually thought that Lee jumping in showed poise on the offense, and although his defensive zone coverage was a bit spotty, he's a call up and young. He also was not being overly pushed around either, unlike brendan bell.

Yeah, Lee wasn't bad last night. A little nervous maybe. But all in all, sorry, but this team sucks right now. And they're boring to watch. All the leafs fans saying it's a one line team are right. One line and a bunch of slow, offensively impaired d. This team needs at least a minor rebuild. These guys can not get it done with this D. By the time the forwards get the puck, the entire other team is in front of them. The line only guys who can kind of work arround this is the CASH line. I have never seen the Sen score so few goals off the fast break. Sorry, but this hockey team is boring, and needs a change soon. IMO anyone is expendable outside the 3, Auld, picks and prospects. The D just can not cut it. Lets hope Murray can swing some deals for some young, fast, offensive Ds.

Nother good post JM. Clarke lost his credibility a long time ago (you could do an entire post on his idiocy - remember his last draft?).

I've lost count of the number of media-types that have taken shots at Spezza in national forums this year (Tortorella, Milbury, Clarke) and I'm with you in not understanding why someone in the Sens organization doesn't stand up for him.

If Murry doesn't want to do it because of the importance of his relationships as GM, then why isn't Hartsburgh standing up for Spezz? He's a former player! or how about Alfie? Part of being a captain if you ask me.

By not hitting back at Clarke, Murray is showing him self to be soft. He wants to ignore the Clarke's aggression and use his GM'ing skills to build the team.

Murray needs to understand that GM skill is not enough. He needs to work on the character part of his GM'ing. His personality needs to get gritier and meaner. C'mon Murray, be like a good Canadian (preferably on the downside of his career, but from Ottawa) and push back! That change in attitude will make us winners.